


The Orphan

by GravityHasGrace



Series: Orphan, Monster, Rebel [1]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies), The Hunger Games (Movies) RPF
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-24 12:08:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21337999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GravityHasGrace/pseuds/GravityHasGrace
Summary: You will remember me as many things: The last of the Hunger Games Victors. The District 2 tribute for the 3rd Quarter Quell. The girl who bit out the throat of her final opponent during the annual 62nd Games. But how many of you care to know the real me?  This is a story about a girl from District 2 who wasn’t born the monster they made her. It’s about a girl who loved, who killed, and who dared to think that she could be the one truly in control. My name is Enobaria Salazar and this is the story of 'The Orphan.'
Relationships: Brutus & Enobaria (Hunger Games), Enobaria & Lyme (Hunger Games), Enobaria/Gloss (Hunger Games), Enobaria/Original Male Character
Series: Orphan, Monster, Rebel [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1538386
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	1. The Tale of the Orphan

The sky rained blood for the seventh time. It burned my eyes. It filled my mouth. So much of it dripped off my body that I could no longer tell which was mine and which was another’s. I could make out his figure in the distance as we both barreled towards each other. He carried no weapons save for his body of pure muscle. My sword was gone. Snapped in half all thanks to that idiot from District 7. I carried a knife in my boot. As I run, I could feel it digging into the skin of my ankle. For a split second, I considered reaching for it and throwing the knife right through his heart. 

He had a knife as well. He used it to kill a couple of our allies. And, though I’d never seen him throw it, surely he must have been able to if it helped him takedown so many. We could have both ended it there. Made it a battle of the draw versus a battle of strength. But where’s the fun in that? Instead we crashed into each other, the sound of our bodies hitting echoing throughout the enclosed arena. It was small that year. Probably smaller than it had ever been. Even now I don’t know why.

He was bigger than me and landed on top. If he was smart, he would have ended it there with his bare hands. He had the advantage. Instead he fumbled into his jacket to reach for his knife and I use the split second he was distracted to change our positions. My knees pressed into his shoulders and he struggled the reclaim control that was now mine. It was pointless though. He may have been bigger than me but it’s nearly impossible for anyone to lift themselves without the use of their shoulders and neck.

“Get on with it then, bitch!” He shouted. It was an act. He wasn’t nearly as accepting of his death as he wanted me to believe. I could see it in his eyes that held the slightest glint of fear. A million thoughts flashed through my head in the matter of a second. All the ways I could end it and claim what I sacrificed everything to achieve. I could scratch his eyes out before stabbing him with my knife. I could grab a nearby rock and bash his skull in. I could-

He spat in my face. A thick wad of bloody spit on my cheek. When I look at him again, his face was no longer his own. It is that of every man who ever thought he could wrong me. Whoever thought they could hurt me. Whoever thought they could take what I loved the most and burn it to ashes as though it was never really there at all. My teeth clamped down onto his jugular before I could register what was happening. He screamed so loud I thought my ears would pop. I spat out the remains of his neck though I could still feel it’s skin and meat between my teeth. 

I expected to hear the cannon. Instead I was met with a strangled sound that barely resembles a gagging choke. His eyes had bulged with tears, no longer attempting to conceal anything. His mouth was so full of blood that he spits some of it up his nose. What was once his throat had become a mess of tongue, skin, and veins. And blood. There was so much blood.

I bite again. Deeper, harder, more aware of what I’m doing. The taste of him was ever present in my mouth as I take what’s left of him in my teeth. The cannon fired before I even spit it out. 

That’s what you wanted to hear right? It’s why you sadistic fucks want to know my story? Enobaria Salazar, the child who was more woman than girl who is famous across all of Panem for biting out the throat of her final opponent.

I suppose it’s foolish to let you know the climax of the story so early on. But if that’s the only reason you want to hear my story than I might as well tell you it now so you won’t be disappointed later on. Sorry not sorry but this isn’t the story of my games. Well, at least it isn’t yet. This is a story about a girl from District 2 who wasn’t born the monster they made her. It’s about who a girl who had to become a woman far more quickly than she should have. It’s about a girl who loved, who killed, and who dared to think that she could be the one truly in control. 

My name is Enobaria Salazar and this is my story.


	2. It Started That Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this story is going to encompass a large amount of OCs seeing as we aren't given much of a backstory for Enobaria in the canon outside of her Games. However, every canon District 2 character will appear in this story (yes that means Cato and Clove as well). That being said, please enjoy the chapter.

It’s started in the quarries. We lived in one of the outer villages not too far from the Main Town. My parents, like many of our district, worked at our village’s quarry. Papa liked to sing. While Mama always looked tired after a long day’s work down in the quarry, Papa had a song on his lips. That’s how we knew they were home. Well, that and Mama yelling at him to shut up.  
My elder sister, Drusilla, usually had dinner on the table by the time they came home. I’d try to help her sometimes but I was miserable in the kitchen and did more harm than help. Instead, I’d help my younger sister, Calluna, with her homework and clean up the house a bit. I never wanted mama to have anything to be mad about when she got home. 

Mama was a lot stronger than Papa. Papa worked at our village’s quarry his whole life but Mama once trained to be a Hunger Games tribute. She was strong, strong enough to make it to her eighteenth birthday and walk out the massive doors of the Training Center alive. Many who didn’t make to the games couldn’t say that. Mama could have won. I know she could have. 

“Why didn’t you go?” I’d asked her once after seeing a reply of the games she would have fought in. I was seven at the time. The blood and gore of the games should have been ignorant to a child of my age but it was reality and mama wouldn’t let age blind her daughters to reality. 

“Because I met your father.” She told me, her words laced with a love that sounded so foreign to her voice. I’d expect it from Papa but not her. “And he showed me life.”

She kissed my cheek in a strange show of affection that I wiped off in disgust. I didn’t understand. A life is not worth living if you had no control. Everyone knew the glory that being a Hunger Games Victor brought. The money, the power, the escape from a life of hard labor in the quarries. I loved my father with all my heart but I couldn’t help feeling as though he stole my mother from the life she could have lived and the greatness she would have achieved. What life could he have shown her that was better than the life she would have lived if she’d been a Victor?

She’d never get a chance to tell me. I was twelve when they died. Her and Papa both perished in an ‘accident’ at the Quarry along with a large chunk of our village’s population. At least that’s what it said in the newspaper. I remember that day but almost like it was a lamp flickering in the distance. In and out. In and out. I see it most vividly when I’m asleep. When I’m awake, it becomes like a nightmare that scares you but you can’t remember why. 

That day had been a strange one. Papa wasn’t singing in the morning. He hadn’t sung for awhile, now that I think back on it. His face was solemn at breakfast and he barely touched the food that Drusilla had cooked for him. 

“What’s wrong, Papa?” I asked him.

He looked over at me and gave me a smile that didn’t quite reach his dark eyes. “Nothing, firecracker. Go get ready for school and I’ll see you tonight.”

Papa always called me his little firecracker. He said it would have been a better name than ‘Enobaria.’ I liked it better than my name to. I was named after my mother’s father Enobarius. I never met him and didn’t know much about him to even consider him a Grandfather. Sometimes, I think Mama didn’t know much about him herself and the only thing she had of him was his name. 

Mama was angry to. Well, angrier than usual. I overheard her and Papa whispering in hushed voices that day. I didn’t hear much but the only sentence I could make out was my father saying: “The Capitol isn’t indestructible, Jacinta. The Dark Days proved that.”

The Dark Days had been when the districts first rebelled against the Capitol and lost, leading to the creation of the Hunger Games. District 2 had been the first of the districts to realign with the Capitol and had been tasked with supplying them with weapons and their army of Peacekeepers ever since. The first war had proved the strength of the Capitol which made my father’s words of their destructibility confuse me. My parents were stone-cutters. They had nothing to do with The Capitol directly. At least that’s what I thought. 

Mama and Papa didn’t come home that evening. Drusilla still cooked dinner and I still helped Calluna with her homework as usual. But there was something off. I smelled it in the air, the scent of firewood after it’d just been burned. 

“Why aren’t Mama and Papa home yet?” Calluna asked while we ate dinner. She had been the first to notice. There was no familiar sound of Papa’s singing or Mama telling him to shut up. I looked towards Drusilla out of habit. She was the eldest of us. Older than me by two years but it often felt more like ten. Her gaze fell to a nearby window. She didn’t respond but the look on her face as she watched the day fall to night told me all I needed to know.

They still weren’t home when Drusilla put Calluna and I went to bed. I argued that I was old enough to stay up but one glare from Dru silenced me immediately. She made Calluna and I sleep in her bed that night and made us wear regular clothes instead of pajamas. She said it was, “Just in case.”

In case of what I wasn’t sure but I soon fell into sleep. I’m not sure how long I slept but I was awoken by someone dragging me out of the bed. 

“Both of you put your shoes on fast!” they yelled at me and I realized it was Drusilla. She looked frantic. Her eyes were as wild as her black coily hair as she rushed around the room throwing random things into a bag.

“What’s going on?” Calluna’s sleepy voice croaked as she slowly complied with Dru’s demands. She was about to answer when there was a scream before it was silenced by a loud gunshot. It came from outside and sounded distant but it still frightened me nonetheless.

“There’s no time for questions, Cal.” Dru told her, her voice significantly softer than it had been moments before. She walked over to Cal and kissed her on the forehead before doing the same to me. I wiped it off. Dru slung the bag she’d been packing over her shoulders before ushering us down the stairs. Dru stopped in the kitchen before we left and gave us both two long butcher knives. 

My first thought hadn’t even been why? It was, “But what about you?”

She opened her jacket and flashed Mama’s combat knife. It was black, sleek, and red with blood. It was the only thing Mama had from her days back at the Training Center. Well, that and the silver district tag that hung permanently around her neck. She was never without either. Then how did my sister get it?

“Mama said you’re not allowed to touch that.” Calluna whimpered, looking on the verge of tears. She looked younger than ever that night. Despite being two years younger than me, we stood at around the same height. She may have even been half an inch taller. I can’t remember. But her face was that of a baby’s which was the only visible evidence of our age difference. 

“Stop it, Calluna!” Dru barked, sounding so much like Mama it made Cal and I both jump. “If you cry, if either of you cry, I’ll spank you! Understand?”

We both nodded vigorously, knowing she’d make true on the threat if need be as she continued. “There’s been an...accident at the quarry. We have to leave now and I don’t know when we’re coming back.”

“But where are Mama and Papa?” I whispered, fearing the answer. Accidents happened all the time at the quarry and if Mama and Papa were hurt, why didn’t she just say that? She didn’t answer. Another scream rang through the air sounding closer than the one before followed by another then another. When I looked out the window, I could see an orange glow and, for a second, I thought it was the rise of the sun. But it wasn’t. It was a fire and was growing bigger by the second.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and the next were originally going to be one long chapter but I'm still unsure of how long to make my chapters. As the story progresses I might make the chapters longer but we'll see. Please like and drop a review if you can!


	3. As The Village Burned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: There are mentions of rape. It is not described graphically but enough for the reader to understand what is happening. Read the end of this chapter with caution if that is a trigger for you.

That was the last time I’d see my childhood home for awhile. It didn’t look the same when I finally came back but I’ll tell you more about that later. For now, let me continue telling you about that night. The night that laid the brickwork for the girl who would become the lunatic who bit out someone’s throat. Drusilla made us leave out of the back window. She said the front door was too dangerous. I carried my knife close to my chest as we moved as silently as possible through the backstreets of our village, ignoring the shouting, screaming, and the gunshots. 

I could still see the fire that burned bright in the distance, looking more like a beacon rather than an agent of destruction. Dru wouldn’t answer our questions of what was going on, telling us to be quiet or she’d hit us. I wanted to go back to bed. I wanted to know where Mama and Papa were. I wanted to know about the fire. I wanted to know why Dru had Mama’s knife and why it was covered in fresh blood. Though, in all fairness, I don’t think Dru even had the answers to all my questions. 

We rounded another corner and were met with a sight that made me smile in relief. Mama leaned against the wall of the alley. She was still in her work uniform but her hair was down. Her lip was busted and her eye was black though she still managed to look as beautiful as ever. She didn’t looked surprised to see us and Dru didn’t seem as happy to see her as Cal and I were. 

Calluna and I ran to her, Calluna abandoning her her knife on the ground with a sharp clang. We stopped just before hugging her. Mama wasn’t one for touching so imagine my surprise when she pulled us both into her arms. Her blood stained my clothes as I buried my face into her shoulder but I didn’t care. I was just glad she was there. 

“Where’s Papa?” I asked her once she pulled away. Her dark eyes were impossible to read as she simply said, “He’s gone.”

“Gone where?” Calluna wondered with child naivety and my mother sighed deeply. She paused for a second, thinking about the many different ways she could further breakdown the reality of the situation to my little sister who’d never encountered death before. But I knew. I knew what she meant. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted Papa. 

Drusilla held my hand as my mother explained to Cal that Papa was dead and that he wasn’t coming back. Dru looked solemn with a face that matched my father’s only earlier that day. Dru must have left to find Mama after putting us to bed. That’s how she’d known where to bring us. 

“No tears.” My mother reprimanded Cal when she began to snivel. Mama’s words were desperate rather than angry as if she was trying not to cry herself. “Please no tears. Not now.”

“You needs to tell us everything.” Dru demanded. I thought Mama would hit her for speaking to her like that but she simply nodded then complied.

She told us everything. “There was an accident. The Capitol assigned a new foreman to oversee the work of the quarry. The work he wanted us to accomplish in such a short amount of time was nearly impossible and, when it wasn’t, he ordered whippings. So many whippings. Some of the workers planned a protest but it turned violent and The Capitol man was killed. By who we don’t know but they said we were all at fault. And we all have to pay.”

Mama cried openly towards the end. Silent tears streaming down her brown face like I’d never seen before. Mama didn’t cry. Never. And watching her do so made my own tears fall freely as well. I wiped them away. I needed to be strong though, in that moment, it felt nearly impossible.

“The peacekeepers took your father and a few of the others that identified as the protest leaders. I’d try to follow but they wouldn’t let me. That’s when we heard the gunshots and smelled the smoke. I managed to get away but...”

Her voice trailed off at the end as if it pained her to say anymore. The fire was at the quarry which wasn’t located far from the village where we lived. I could still see it raging in the distant and it grew closer to the village with each passing moment. Mama was still crying which in turn made us all cry harder. Mama never cried. She was the backbone of our family so seeing her so emotional made us all see the true reality of the danger we were in. 

Calluna sobbed and motioned for Mama to pick her up. Calluna may have been only ten years old but she was tall for age. She was even slightly taller than me despite my being twelve and her only ten. I expected Mama to deny her. To tell her that she was too big but, instead, she lifted my sister up into her arms as though she weighed nothing and held her. 

“You have to take them to the Main Town.” Mama spoke to Dru. My hand still held tightly onto Dru’s while the other held a desperate clutch on the butcher knife. I could still hear the screams and pleas coming from somewhere close by followed by the sound of gunshots, each one making my grip on both tighten. “The Community Center will take Calluna but you and Enobaria are too old to stay there. You two will be sent to The Training Center.”

The Training Center loomed eerily on the edge of the Main Town. I’d only seen it a few times. It was bleak and dark with huge metal gates and a tall brick wall that I wasn’t sure was meant to keep people out or keep people in. Those who trained at the Center all looked much older than their years with cold eyes, faces etched with permanent scowls, and bodies riddled with scars. Kind of like Mama. 

“What about you?” I sniffled, snatching my hand from Dru’s and racing to Mama. I wanted her to lift me as she did Cal and let me cry into her shoulder. She didn’t though. She handed Calluna over to Dru before just staring at me for a few moments. Her dark eyes swirled with a million different thoughts I don’t think she even knew how to explain. So, instead, she took her district tag off her neck before placing it around my own. She kissed my lips sweetly knowing it would be the last time and, for once, I didn’t wipe it off.

She kneeled down in front of me so we stood at the same height. She pressed our foreheads together as she spoke quietly enough for only me to hear. “Be strong, Enobaria. You have to be strong in these next years to come or they will swallow you whole. Don’t show them your fear and don’t show them your weakness. Show them only your strength. I’m sorry it has to be this way. But never forget that I love you, Enobaria, and that your father loved you and we will always be with you. Goodbye, firecracker.” 

She gave a final kiss before turning to my sisters. “You have to watch out for each other. Family is the only thing you’ll have to rely on in these next years and it’ll keep you alive. I love you. I love all three of you more than I loved anything in this life and for that I wouldn’t change a thing.” 

I hadn’t realized I’d been clinging to her pant leg until she pulled me off. The sound of the gunshots grew closer and closer with each passing moment until it was impossible to ignore that our time was up. I desperately tried to regain my hold of her but she pushed me away. Dru grabbed my arm with one hand and took hold of Calluna’s in the other before pulling us away and down the alley, gaining a strength I didn’t know she had. 

That was the last time my sisters would see Mama. They were granted the final image of seeing her stand stoic at the face of death. Showing no fear. Showing no emotion at what she knew was to come. I wish I was granted that final image. I wish I hadn’t escaped Dru’s grasp and ran back to try and save my mother. I wish they had just granted her the death that she didn’t fear instead of the fate they cursed her to. The fate I was made to witness but did nothing to stop.

I managed to get away from Dru about ten minutes after we left Mama. Calluna had a fit. She was screaming, crying, and hitting violently at Dru’s arm. I silently slipped away as all of Dru’s attention became focused on our baby sister. Still clutching the butcher knife in my hand, I swiftly crept back towards the alley where we left Mama. The fire had reached the village with a few of the outlier wooden shacks catching ablaze. 

The village, like most of our district, was made of entirely of stone making it difficult for the fire to spread as rapidly as it did in the quarry. Yet and still, the air was filled with an orange smoke that limited my vision. Perhaps, that was a sign. A sign to turn back and go with my sisters instead of pushing on for my mother. I would have never found her either had it not been for the rage filled shout: “Look at the mighty Jacinta Caltiri doing what she does best: Laying on her back.”

Jacinta was Mama’s name but I didn’t recognize the voice who shouted it. I peered around the corner of the ally where I heard the shout come from and was met with a sight that laid the foundation for the woman I would become. Despite the smoke, I seemed to see better than ever. There were three peacekeepers with faces I’d remember until the day I die. It took two of them to hold my mother down while the other had his way with her. 

I couldn’t move. My voice caught in my throat and my feet refused to leave the ground. I wanted to stop them! To get them away from Mama and kill them where they stood! But I couldn’t. I couldn’t even run away. I just cried. Cried at the broken image of my mother that became permanently ingrained in my mind. 

“You’re a coward, Thread.” Mama whispered in a voice laced with acid. “You were a coward when we were children, you were a coward at the Training Centre, and you’re a coward even now. The only comfort I have now is knowing-”

He put a bullet in her head before she could finish, it’s loud pop nearly making me drop my knife. Mama was gone, Papa was gone, and our village was burning. I knew I should go find my sisters and tell them what happened but I couldn’t. I couldn’t look them in the face and tell them that I was too much of a coward to save our mother. I didn’t know if I could face them ever again. Death seemed like a comfort in that moment. Maybe the men who killed Mama would find and kill me. Maybe the fire would engross the village completely and I would burn away with it. Maybe I would just kill over and join my parents wherever they were. I laid down on the grim covered ally ground, closed my eyes, and dreamed of death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I enjoyed the casting of Meta Golding from the movie so my description of Enobaria and her family is based around her. However, I want to make it ambiguous enough for anyone to be able to read the story and see who they want. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you next time. Next Chapter: Enobaria and the orphans of the burnt village are taken to the Training Center.


	4. Orphans of the Ash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter features a character Vikus Cortez who is originally from caisha702's Hunger Games works on Fanfiction.net (which are all completed so I really suggest you them out). Anyways, on with the story!

“Enobaria?” A child’s voice shook me awake. It wasn’t Calluna. A child’s voice it may have been but it sounded too masculine to be hers. A part of me had prayed that the night before had been nothing but a dream so I pretended it was her for a moment that was nudging me awake and ignored her like I always did. When I’d finally get up, Dru would be downstairs making breakfast, Papa would be whistling a quarry tune, and Mama would be yelling at me to get dressed for school. If only fate were that kind. 

I was nudged again, more urgently than before. I opened my eyes and was met with a familiar face. It was Darius, the little red headed boy who lived next door to us with his grandfather. I was shivering. The morning smelt of firewood after it had just been burnt but it blew the coldest wind. Darius moved to give me the jacket he’d been wearing. It was a tight fit but I was in no position to turn away such kindness. 

“You’re sisters are looking for you.” He mumbled after helping me up. “They’re rounding up everyone who’s left near the village border.” 

“Who’s they?”

“The Peacekeepers.” He answered. “They sent a couple of us back to look for any survivors. They want to head back to the Main Town soon.” 

Darius was only six. Why the peacekeepers would trust a six year old boy with rounding up survivors was beyond me especially said six year old was Darius. He was a quiet but sweet natured boy who looked down at his shoes when he spoke to people. He couldn’t so much as lift a toy truck, let alone trek through a burnt wreckage. The peacekeepers truly were cowards if they sent a boy to do the job of men.

“Who else is still alive?” I asked as we walked towards the village edge together slower than we should have been. My voice was grim rather than hopeful which Darius looked to pick up on. Maybe he’d seen Mama’s body and put the rest together himself or he may have just had his own demons to work through with little care left for mine.

He shrugged. “There’s about forty of us at the border and they sent me and a couple others back to find survivors. All of the adults died in the ‘accident.’ Well, at least what they’re saying. We’re not allowed to talk about it much.”

I nodded. No one would ever be allowed to openly talk about what happened in my village. ‘The Ash Quarry’ would become my village’s new name in the years to come, the name it held before lost to time. Even as I think back on it, I cannot remember the name that it once held. The Ash Quarry just seemed like a better fit. 

They’d set up a makeshift campsite by the village border. When Darius and I arrived, they separated us with me being taken to a doctor and Darius being sent back to find more survivors. The doctor gave me a makeshift shower, washing off the dirt and soot that covered my skin. I was given soup and a blanket before I was let off to find my sisters. I found them quick. Drusilla and Calluna shared a blanket as they sat by a campfire with a few other children. Their eyes were red and their faces dark. 

Calluna spotted me first. Her face lit up like a light as she raced over towards me. I nearly fell down when she tackled me with a hug that I gladly returned. I wanted to cry in relief but it felt as though my eyes were all out of tears. 

“We thought you were dead.” Calluna voice was muffled by my hair. She smelled of ash and wood despite her skin being clean. I probably did as well. Dru slapped me when she made her way over to us. There was no relief in her face at first. Only anger. 

“Never do that to me again!” She shouted, sounding so much like Mama. She even looked like her to. Apart of me wanted to hit her back like I usually did when she hit me but, instead, I wrapped my arms around her and apologized for scaring her. Mama and Papa would want us to look out for each other, not fight. She returned my embrace and held onto me tight as though I might slip through her fingers if she didn’t. “Never scare me like that again.”

“Mama’s dead.” I mumbled when we finally separated. She took in a sharp breath but said nothing. She probably figured as much. I couldn’t bear to tell her the horrible fate our mother had been cursed to or that I hadn’t saved her. They’d never forgive me if they’d known I hidden like a coward as our mother was raped. I couldn’t forgive me either. 

The peacekeepers who had attacked Mama were nowhere insight. In fact, I didn’t recognize any of the peacekeepers who policed the campsite. Darius and the other boys who had been sent to find survivors returned after about two more hours of searching. They hadn’t found a soul. Once they were back, the peacekeepers rounded us up into three separate trucks. The first were for the few that were over seventeen. They were too old for the Community Center and too old to be trained for the games and were to be sent to another quarry for work.

The second truck was for anyone under the age of twelve. Calluna was meant to get on that truck but Dru lied and said that Cal and I were twins. I saw Darius being loaded into the second truck and, for a moment, wanted to bring him with us. He and his grandfather lived next door to us for as long as I could remember. They were like family. But Darius was only six and, unlike Calluna, he actually looked his age.

The Community Center sends children over to the Training Center once they’ve turned twelve. If we both managed to survive the next six years, we’d see each other again. I waved goodbye as he got on and he waved back with a smile. Leave it to Darius to find the strength to smile even in a situation like that. 

The last truck was going to the Training Center. Calluna wasn’t the only child under twelve that snuck their way onto that truck but it wasn’t like anyone cared so long as they looked the part. The more children that trained for the games the better. I’d only rode in a car a few times before and each time it made me sick. Dru tried to hold onto my hand to comfort me but I refused. Mama said we could no longer show weakness especially at the Training Center. While we hadn’t arrived yet, the kids surround us would be our competition for the next few years to come. We had to appear strong at all times. 

It was a short ride to there. At least it felt like one. It’s black metal gates looked larger than ever as the truck slowly pulled into the courtyard. I thought of how Mama must have felt when she was first brought there. Unlike me, Mama didn’t have the company of sisters whose mere presence alone was enough to comfort me. I wished Mama had spoke on her days there more often. Maybe it would have prepared me for what was in store for the next years to come.

They escorted us into the Main Gymnasium, the biggest room I’d ever seen in my life. On the walls dawned massive banners of each of our district’s past Victors, each one staring down at me with young faces but eyes much older. There were multiple different weapons stations that ranged from knife throwing, spear chucking, sword fighting, archery, and a few other areas. It was devoid of people, save for us and the Peacekeepers who brought us in. A balcony overlooked the gymnasium from above. On it stood two people I’d only ever seen on TV and they needed no introduction. 

The first was a man by the name of Vikus Cortez, Victor of the 38th Games. He was probably our district’s most famous victor, his bloodlust unparalleled by anyone to come before or after. He watched us like a snake does it’s prey, his icy glare sending chills down my spine in a way that made the frosty air outside seem like the heat of summer. 

The second was a woman I knew to be Lyme Ibarra, Victor of the 41st Games. Her face was unforgettable. Though she boasted the harsh features and olive tone skin that were a staple of our district, there was something about her that seemed unique in a way that couldn’t quite be placed. Her eyes weren’t as cold as Vikus’ but they were by no means warm and inviting. She looked down on us with haughty indifference as though we were all bugs beneath her. 

They said nothing at first. They just looked down on us as though they were examining animals in a cage. Many shrank back. Even Cal and Dru’s eyes were glued to the ground but not mine. I met their gaze with one of my own, examining them just as harshly. I locked eyes with Lyme for a moment. She raised an eyebrow at my indignation but said nothing. Soon Vikus’ cold eyes were on me as well and his glare was far more difficult to hold than Lyme’s but I refused to back down. His lips soon curled into cruel smile before he spoke so loud that his voice echoed off the walls. 

“You’re a pathetic lot aren’t you?” he started. “If you’re expecting hugs and kisses because your mommies and daddies are dead then you’ve come to the wrong place. Everyone in here has more or less the same story making none of you special. Welcome to the Training Center where the only guarantee here is that your lives will be hell.”

“The next few years of your lives will be dedicated to turning you into proper tributes.” Lyme continued. “Your fears, your hesitations, and any trace of cowardice must be abandoned here and now or you will not live to see your eighteenth birthdays. Take a good look at those around because the people standing next you are no longer your friends. They will be your competition. They will possibly your killer. And the prize from this point on is life.”

It was a strange thought having to kill any of the children who stood around me. I’d never hurt Calluna or Dru. Nothing that Vikus or Lyme could do to me would compare to the pain of losing either of them. But those that stood around me were a different story. I’d grown up with these kids and, until the day before, our parents had worked together. I went to school with them. I played with them. I survived the tragedy of the Ash Quarry with them. Now I was expected to kill them to ensure my own survival. 

“Make no mistake.” Vikus’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Despite your age you will be treated and spoken to as if you were adults. The Games require only the best are district has to offer. Anyone of any age who fails to give it there all will be executed whether it be in the Fighting Pit by another prospective tribute or by me. Whatever I’m in the mood for.”

He smiled down on us sadistically as though picturing each of our demises brought him immense joy, making me wonder if it was the Training Center that made him cold or something far worse. I could never forget that crazed smile plastered across his face during his own games. I refused to believe anything in this life would make me as callous of a person as Vikus was though I could help the feeling that maybe I was just one more bad day away from being so. 

“Look at the walls around you.” Lyme instructed, referring to Victor Banners that hung high off the walls. “All Hunger Games Victors trained within these walls who once stood where you stand now. The goal is achievable and within your grasp so long as long as you truly want it. Now, you will be escorted to the administration hall where you will be given your district tags, your chores, and your class schedule. You will each be given a bed in the junior barracks. Should you survive to sixteen, you will be given your own room. Until then, bedrooms and bathrooms are communal. Welcome home. You’re all officially prospects. ” 

We were dismissed. It wasn’t that I was expecting us to be greeted with cookies and juice but I didn’t think they’d be so cold. Though, if they’d truly seen similar stories so many times before, I guess it could make a person begin to feel indifferent towards it. Vikus and Lyme disappeared as quickly as they appeared. We were taken to the Administration Hall as Lyme said. The ‘hall’ was merely a room located at the back of the building ran by a greasy man with missing teeth and a balding head.

“Line up!” He demanded and we quickly complied. “Write your names down on this sheet. In three days time you will be given your district tags. On it will be your name and identification number. Until then you will be given these.”

He pulled out a box of orange colored wrist bands and handed them out to us. They were impossible to ignore and would alert every other student at the Center that fresh meat had just arrived. I went to go write my name down on the list but had seen that something similar was already written. ‘Enobaria Caltiri’ it read to my surprise. My last name was Salazar just like my father’s had been. I realized that Dru and Calluna’s names had been written the same way. I went to fix the mistake but was met with a slap on the hand from Dru.

“Don’t!” she whispered harshly as she pulled Calluna and I out of the line. 

“But those aren’t our names.” I responded in a similar tone and Calluna nodded in agreement. 

“I know.” she answered. “Caltiri was Mama’s last name before she married Papa.” 

“But-”

“Mama trained here from the time she was twelve until she was eighteen. That was around fourteen years ago.” She stated the last part as though it’s meaning were obvious but Calluna and I still looked up at her confused. She sighed. “Her years training here overlap with Vikus’, Lyme’s, and a few other Victors. My guess is that they knew her and them knowing that were her daughters might do us some good.” 

“Or it could paint a target on our backs!” I exclaimed. Maybe Dru was right. Mama could have known some of these Victors and could have been allies with them, possibly even friends but we’d never know. When Mama walked out the Training Center all those years ago, she never looked back. She barely mentioned her time there to us. Who knew if these people loved or hated her? It just all seemed too risky. 

“That’s a chance we need to take.” Dru proclaimed though she sounded a bit unsure herself. “Besides, at the very least it will show that we have some type of training.”

It’s true. Our resources for training were limited at the Ash Quarry but Mama made best with what we had. She taught us how to properly hold a knife and how to throw one. She gave us large pieces of wood that we used as makeshift swords or staffs and showed us how to swing it. We learned the basics of hand to hand combat and how that, if need be, anything can be a weapon. If any of the Victors that worked at the Training Center had known Mama, then they’d known she’d have never left her daughters truly defenseless in this world. 

They walked us to the Junior Barracks after that. It was on the far end of the Center. It was divided by male and female then by age. It was the first time I was separated from my sisters since we reunited, making my stomach feel uneasy. I was stationed in a room with three other girls my age, each having been there for sometime before I had. They watched me pack my bunk with what little I had, their eyes more curious than anything else.

“Is it true what they’re saying?” one of them asked. “Did The Capitol really burn your village to the ground?”

The other two try to shush her but it’s too late. Her question hung in the air. Many more questions about that night would follow in the years to come. That one was merely the first but not the last. I pause for a second before turning to face her with a blank expression. “It was an accident. Nothing to blame but faulty wiring in a drill rig.”

This answer satisfied her but it isn’t the last of the questions. They interrogated me for about an hour asking me questions that ranged from my name and my level of training all the way to whether or not I’ve kissed a boy. They were nice enough I supposed but I knew better than to get too close with Lyme’s words from earlier still ringing in my ears. I was reunited with my sisters again during dinner. I tried to eat like I’d been raised with some sort of class but it was the first proper meal I’d had all day.

“These kids aren’t as tough as I thought they’d be.” Calluna stated as she picked at her plate.

“Of course they aren’t.” Dru responded absentmindedly. “You’re with a bunch of ten year olds who haven’t fully been broken by this place yet. Give it a few years. They’ll be plenty tough soon enough.”

I looked over at where some of the older students sat. There were many things that differed them from each other but the detached look in each of their eyes was ever present. I wondered when it will enter mine. Maybe it already had. 

I leave the Dining Hall early, not as hungry as I thought I was. I wandered aimlessly through my new home thinking everything and nothing all at once. Everything looked the same in that place, an endless maze of metal corridors with rooms filled different weapons and training stations. I guessed the dining hall cleared out as the corridors became more crowded with Prospects going in every which direction. They bumped into me. It could have been accidental or a show of dominance. Either way, they carried on as if it didn’t happen and I attempted to do the same. But, with each fleeting bump, I could feel my resolve slowly starting to slip. I wanted to go home. I’d rather have laid in the burnt wreckage of what was once my village than put up another moment of my new unfamiliar home. 

“Watch where you’re going, little girl.” sneered a boy as he purposely shoved into me. From the looks of it, he was around the same age as me if not just a bit taller. He had a young face with a scar that ran through his right eyebrow that stopped just before hitting his eye. He glared down at me as though I was the one to walk into him and not the other way around. I don’t know what he thought my reaction would be. That I’d mutter an apology and scurry away. That I’d be too scared to even conjure up any words. Whatever the case, he wasn’t expecting the reaction I gave him. 

I punched him in the chest so hard that it made my fist hurt. “You bumped into me, stupid! You watch out!”

He stumbled back a bit before regaining his balance. He seemed shocked. He’d probably done something similar to other new initiates and never got a response like mine. I’d thought he’d be angry but he wasn’t. Well, if he was, he had a funny way of showing it. He smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes in a way a genuine one would. He cracked his neck then his knuckles.“Is that a challenge?”

I kicked him hard in the shin before racing off down the hallway. I didn’t expect him to be able to keep up with me as I bobbed and weaved through the crowded corridors but I saw him gaining on me when I looked back over my shoulder to see him dodging any obstacle with ease. When he finally caught up to me he tackled me to the ground, knocking the wind out of me. He was bigger than me but I wasn’t going down without a fight. I struggled against him and we rolled around on the ground for a bit each trying to be the one in control. 

“If this were the games you’d be dead, little boy.” I mocked when I finally managed to pin him with a move Mama taught me. Each of my knees were pressed painfully against his shoulders. I watched him try in vain to get up but it was impossible with the position I had him in. When he realized his attempts were futile, his face broke out into a grin and, for some reason, I grinned back. It was the first genuine smile I had given since my parents death and it for a boy whose name I didn’t even know. 

“And what exactly do you two think you’re doing?” A familiar voice barked at us from behind. I hopped off the boy in an instance and spun around to meet the strict face of Lyme. Her eyebrow was raised questioningly but there was a hint of amusement in her eyes as she looked down on us. “I’m aware that you’re new here Caltiri so let me be the first to inform you that unsanctioned fights are prohibited.” 

I nodded. She was more striking up close. I could make out tiny freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks. She kept her pitch black hair up in a tight bun though I suspected if she let it out it went down past her waist. She watched me through eyes just as dark as her hair with a look that was oddly pleasant given the circumstance. 

“I was just giving the new girl a few pointers, sir.” The boy stated matter of factly, any trace of the malice that it held earlier gone. He stood at attention and I followed suit. 

“Is that so?” she inquired. “From the looks of it maybe she should be the one giving you a few pointers, Santana.”

“Beginner’s luck.” He spat out and I couldn’t help the smirk that crept onto my face.

Lyme gave us a smirk of her own. “Be grateful it was me who caught you and not Vikus or he’d of put the two of you up against real opponents. Now return to the barracks or I might be inclined to do the same.”

She didn’t have to tell us twice. We both scurried as far away from Lyme as possible before speaking again. 

“Not bad for a beginner.” He complimented me as we walked back to the barracks together. “What’s your name?

“Enobaria.” I answered. “Enobaria Sal- I mean Caltiri.” 

“Salcaltiri?” 

“No just Caltiri. I got confused.”

“About your own last name?”

“Drop it!” I demanded. “Besides, you still haven’t told me your name.”

He shrugged. “Decimus Santana. Be sure to remember it when I call on you for my rematch.” 

I scoffed. “Trust me. It won’t me much of a match.” 

He smirked but said nothing further. I wasn’t afraid. I knew I could beat him if he really did challenge me to a rematch but I doubted he would. There was a playfulness in his words that hadn’t been there when he first confronted me in the hall. It was weird but not unwanted. I was unable to sleep that night. Each time I closed my eyes, I was reminded of the hell I had escaped that burned so brightly in the dark room. So I laid awake with closed eyes and prayed that when I opened them I’d see Dru to my left and Calluna to my right with my parents nearby watching over us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it! For anyone wondering, the little Darius featured in this chapter is the Darius that becomes a Peacekeeper in District 12 in the canon. I'm just slipping him into the story as well cause why not? It's never confirmed whether he's Capitol or District 2 so I'm just assuming. He'll appear again later in the work. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know what you think in the comments. See you same time next week.


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